diff --git a/docs/sql-data-sources-xml.md b/docs/sql-data-sources-xml.md
index b10e054634ed..3b735191fc42 100644
--- a/docs/sql-data-sources-xml.md
+++ b/docs/sql-data-sources-xml.md
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ Data source options of XML can be set via:
   <tr>
       <td><code>inferSchema</code></td>
       <td><code>true</code></td>
-      <td>If true, attempts to infer an appropriate type for each resulting DataFrame column. If false, all resulting columns are of string type. Default is true. XML built-in functions ignore this option.</td>
+      <td>If true, attempts to infer an appropriate type for each resulting DataFrame column. If false, all resulting columns are of string type.</td>
       <td>read</td>
   </tr>
 
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ Data source options of XML can be set via:
   <tr>
     <td><code>attributePrefix</code></td>
     <td><code>_</code></td>
-    <td>The prefix for attributes to differentiate attributes from elements. This will be the prefix for field names. Default is _. Can be empty for reading XML, but not for writing.</td>
+    <td>The prefix for attributes to differentiate attributes from elements. This will be the prefix for field names. Can be empty for reading XML, but not for writing.</td>
     <td>read/write</td>
   </tr>
 
@@ -235,5 +235,12 @@ Data source options of XML can be set via:
     <td>write</td>
   </tr>
 
+  <tr>
+      <td><code>validateName</code></td>
+      <td><code>true</code></td>
+      <td>If true, throws error on XML element name validation failure. For example, SQL field names can have spaces, but XML element names cannot.</td>
+      <td>write</td>
+  </tr>
+
 </table>
 Other generic options can be found in <a href="https://spark.apache.org/docs/latest/sql-data-sources-generic-options.html"> Generic File Source Options</a>.
diff --git a/python/pyspark/sql/connect/readwriter.py b/python/pyspark/sql/connect/readwriter.py
index 52975917ea02..51698f262fc5 100644
--- a/python/pyspark/sql/connect/readwriter.py
+++ b/python/pyspark/sql/connect/readwriter.py
@@ -792,6 +792,7 @@ def xml(
         timestampFormat: Optional[str] = None,
         compression: Optional[str] = None,
         encoding: Optional[str] = None,
+        validateName: Optional[bool] = None,
     ) -> None:
         self.mode(mode)
         self._set_opts(
@@ -806,6 +807,7 @@ def xml(
             timestampFormat=timestampFormat,
             compression=compression,
             encoding=encoding,
+            validateName=validateName,
         )
         self.format("xml").save(path)
 
diff --git a/python/pyspark/sql/readwriter.py b/python/pyspark/sql/readwriter.py
index b61284247b0e..db9220fc48bb 100644
--- a/python/pyspark/sql/readwriter.py
+++ b/python/pyspark/sql/readwriter.py
@@ -2096,6 +2096,7 @@ def xml(
         timestampFormat: Optional[str] = None,
         compression: Optional[str] = None,
         encoding: Optional[str] = None,
+        validateName: Optional[bool] = None,
     ) -> None:
         r"""Saves the content of the :class:`DataFrame` in XML format at the specified path.
 
@@ -2155,6 +2156,7 @@ def xml(
             timestampFormat=timestampFormat,
             compression=compression,
             encoding=encoding,
+            validateName=validateName,
         )
         self._jwrite.xml(path)
 
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/xml/StaxXmlGenerator.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/xml/StaxXmlGenerator.scala
index 43e89c49a89e..53c8b4cf3422 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/xml/StaxXmlGenerator.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/xml/StaxXmlGenerator.scala
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ class StaxXmlGenerator(
     val factory = XMLOutputFactory.newInstance()
     // to_xml disables structure validation to allow multiple root tags
     factory.setProperty(WstxOutputProperties.P_OUTPUT_VALIDATE_STRUCTURE, validateStructure)
+    factory.setProperty(WstxOutputProperties.P_OUTPUT_VALIDATE_NAMES, options.validateName)
     val xmlWriter = factory.createXMLStreamWriter(writer)
     if (!indentDisabled) {
       val indentingXmlWriter = new IndentingXMLStreamWriter(xmlWriter)
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/xml/XmlOptions.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/xml/XmlOptions.scala
index 218d56c0f203..336c54e164e8 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/xml/XmlOptions.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/xml/XmlOptions.scala
@@ -107,6 +107,7 @@ class XmlOptions(
   // setting indent to "" disables indentation in the generated XML.
   // Each row will be written in a new line.
   val indent = parameters.getOrElse(INDENT, DEFAULT_INDENT)
+  val validateName = getBool(VALIDATE_NAME, true)
 
   /**
    * Infer columns with all valid date entries as date type (otherwise inferred as string or
@@ -210,6 +211,7 @@ object XmlOptions extends DataSourceOptions {
   val TIME_ZONE = newOption("timeZone")
   val INDENT = newOption("indent")
   val PREFERS_DECIMAL = newOption("prefersDecimal")
+  val VALIDATE_NAME = newOption("validateName")
   // Options with alternative
   val ENCODING = "encoding"
   val CHARSET = "charset"
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/xml/XmlSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/xml/XmlSuite.scala
index 398706dba3d9..b3d10d2115f0 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/xml/XmlSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/xml/XmlSuite.scala
@@ -16,12 +16,13 @@
  */
 package org.apache.spark.sql.execution.datasources.xml
 
-import java.io.EOFException
+import java.io.{EOFException, File}
 import java.nio.charset.{StandardCharsets, UnsupportedCharsetException}
 import java.nio.file.{Files, Path, Paths}
 import java.sql.{Date, Timestamp}
 import java.time.{Instant, LocalDateTime}
 import java.util.TimeZone
+import javax.xml.stream.XMLStreamException
 
 import scala.collection.immutable.ArraySeq
 import scala.collection.mutable
@@ -2828,4 +2829,55 @@ class XmlSuite
       }
     }
   }
+
+  test("XML Validate Name") {
+    val data = Seq(Row("Random String"))
+
+    def checkValidation(fieldName: String,
+                        errorMsg: String,
+                        validateName: Boolean = true): Unit = {
+      val schema = StructType(Seq(StructField(fieldName, StringType)))
+      val df = spark.createDataFrame(data.asJava, schema)
+
+      withTempDir { dir =>
+        val path = dir.getCanonicalPath
+        validateName match {
+          case false =>
+            df.write
+              .option("rowTag", "ROW")
+              .option("validateName", false)
+              .option("declaration", "")
+              .option("indent", "")
+              .mode(SaveMode.Overwrite)
+              .xml(path)
+            // read file back and check its content
+            val xmlFile = new File(path).listFiles()
+              .filter(_.isFile)
+              .filter(_.getName.endsWith("xml")).head
+            val actualContent = Files.readString(xmlFile.toPath).replaceAll("\\n", "")
+            assert(actualContent ===
+              s"<${XmlOptions.DEFAULT_ROOT_TAG}><ROW>" +
+                s"<$fieldName>${data.head.getString(0)}</$fieldName>" +
+                s"</ROW></${XmlOptions.DEFAULT_ROOT_TAG}>")
+
+          case true =>
+            val e = intercept[SparkException] {
+              df.write
+                .option("rowTag", "ROW")
+                .mode(SaveMode.Overwrite)
+                .xml(path)
+            }
+
+            assert(e.getCause.getCause.isInstanceOf[XMLStreamException])
+            assert(e.getMessage.contains(errorMsg))
+        }
+      }
+    }
+
+    checkValidation("", "Illegal to pass empty name")
+    checkValidation(" ", "Illegal first name character ' '")
+    checkValidation("1field", "Illegal first name character '1'")
+    checkValidation("field name with space", "Illegal name character ' '")
+    checkValidation("field", "", false)
+  }
 }